2023-10-11 12:12:20
A test that measures cancer risk. Just as today we evaluate blood pressure or cholesterol levels which are indicative of the risk of developing a cardiovascular disease, it is possible to intercept risk factors that could favor the onset of cancer. It’s called ‘Cancer Driver Interception’ and it is the new frontier in the fight against cancer, an active prevention of conditions that can give rise to a tumor.
Developed by a spin-off of Tor Vergata University, it was presented today in a Consensus Conference “New approach in cancer prevention, the first model in the world in Italy” at Palazzo Giustiniani, at the Senate of the Republic on the initiative of the President of 10th Commission Social Affairs, Health, Public and Private Work, Social Security, Francesco Zaffini. Consensus was promoted by Bioscience Foundationa non-profit association born from the collaboration between the Tor Vergata University of Rome and located at the San Raffaele hospital in Milan.
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The Helixafe protocol
Even though the progress has been enormous and today it is possible to recover in a good percentage of cases, the tumor is still frightening. Knowing your risk is therefore a great advantage for prevention and not only when you are already familiar with it. “It is scientifically proven that carcinogenesis lasts for years,” he explains Adriana Albini, of the European Institute of Oncology, responsible for the Cancer Prevention Working Group of the American Association for Cancer Research. “At the beginning, some predisposing conditions occur which, if intercepted and modified, can stop the process, preventing the onset of the neoplasm. Conditions that are now clear and studied with dozens of scientific publications that can be monitored with simple tests. In Italy it has been developed the most innovative operating model in the world: the HELIXAFE protocol”.
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I ‘cancer drivers’
Therefore, a revolution that until a few years ago seemed like science fiction. “Tests like these – he underlines Rossana Berardi, full professor of Oncology at the Polytechnic University of Marche, and member of the National Board of Aiom (Italian Association of Medical Oncology) – radically transform the point of view on the approach to tumors, which today focuses exclusively on early diagnosis and therapies, starting from identification of Cancer Drivers that intercept and treat the pathophysiological conditions that determine the development of tumors. As with cardiovascular diseases we can control blood pressure and cholesterol levels, which are really important risk factors, today we can verify the mutations that lead to the onset of tumors.”
The four risk factors under scrutiny
But how do we identify the risk of cancer? With the analysis of genomic instability, the control of chronic inflammation, the imbalance of the immune system and the intestinal bacterial flora.
“Genomic instability is the main driver – he underlines Giuseppe Mucci, president of Bioscience Foundation. “The DNA of each of us receives several thousand lesions daily which are however repaired by tumor suppressor genes. However, if these genes stop working and no longer repair the damage, somatic, i.e. acquired, mutations are formed.” These represent the indicator of the inactivity of the tumor suppressor genes and therefore of the prodromal condition of the development of solid tumors. This occurs through the sequencing of circulating free DNA, which is obtained with a simple blood sample.
“Sequencing techniques of free circulating DNA represent an epochal turning point in cancer prevention,” underlines Dr Luca Quagliata, Molecular Biotechnologist, Heidelberg University in Germany – this is because they allow the evaluation of the consequences due to the genotoxic impact accumulated in the DNA and can become drivers of cancer. As studied by the spin-off of the Tor Vergata University, the result of Italian research”.
The role of inflammation and bacterial flora
Not only that, it is also necessary to control chronic inflammation, with the analysis of 9 cytokines to highlight a condition of systemic inflammation. And again, the measurement of the CD4/CD8 ratio, monocytes, highlights the balance or imbalance of the immune system. While with the sequencing of a stool sample, it is possible to analyze a fourth driver function, which is the imbalance of the intestinal bacterial flora.
“The absolute number of tumors in Western countries is increasing, but mortality is decreasing, thanks to early diagnosis – he adds Saverio Cinieri, national president of Aiom (Italian Association of Medical Oncology). In Italy in 2022, 390,000 diagnoses were recorded, 14,000 more than in 2020. We must intervene on primary prevention, with the correction of incorrect lifestyles, especially smoking, overweight and sedentary lifestyle, and now also on active prevention. For this reason, an important communication and education project must be developed among clinicians, but above all among family doctors.”
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